Budget and taxes
By Eric Ostermeier on August 1, 2011
Emmanuel Cleaver was not the first public figure to use this devilish metaphor.
By Eric Ostermeier on June 9, 2011
Obama has issued just one veto every 435 days; the presidential average since 1881 is once every 20 days.
By Eric Ostermeier on April 13, 2011
Who would Hollywood cast to play the key House Republicans as D.C. sorts out its accounting mess?
By Eric Ostermeier on April 7, 2011
"You shouldn't overspend at the moment. Frugality is important.'
By Eric Ostermeier on February 25, 2011
Would Senate Democrats have left the state in the first instance if they knew Wisconsin's new legislative and congressional district maps could be created and voted on without any of their input?
By Eric Ostermeier on December 13, 2010
Barack Obama is the first Democrat since James Buchanan with two living Democratic ex-presidents to advise him
By Eric Ostermeier on September 13, 2010
DFL gubernatorial candidate launches 16 attacks against his 2010 rivals' tax and budget plans and outgoing Pawlenty administration in hour long U of MN event
By Eric Ostermeier on February 11, 2010
Governor's focus on jobs in speech up more than threefold from 2009 Address despite yearly drop in unemployment
By Eric Ostermeier on December 3, 2009
Governor is adamant that, despite rumored political aspirations or busy travel schedule, there is "no work in his office or administration that is left undone"
By Eric Ostermeier on November 29, 2009
Democratic-controlled legislatures in the spotlight, facing largest budget shortfalls across the nation
By Eric Ostermeier on September 28, 2009
The event was illuminating for Bachmann's reaction to Paul's speech - a public display by the Congresswoman regarding her positive and negative reactions to Paul's unique brand of libertarian conservatism
By Eric Ostermeier on May 20, 2009
In his final media availability at the Capitol for 2009, House GOP Minority Leader Marty Seifert cast a very critical look in his (Tuesday) morning quarterbacking of the 86th Legislative session for 2009. Calling it "a session of lost opportunity," Seifert continuously employed downbeat prose in his review of the...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 19, 2009
One of the reasons cited by Governor Tim Pawlenty in his recent declaration that there will be no special session this year to resolve the state's budget crisis, is that he does not believe residents of the Gopher State should endure the additional costs associated with calling the legislature into...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 15, 2009
Governor Tim Pawlenty delivered a shot across the DFL's bow Thursday afternoon, or perhaps it was the dropping of an A-bomb, when he declared there would be no special sessions to resolve the state's budget matters and that, if need be, he would use his executive power of line-item vetoes...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 10, 2009
Governor Tim Pawlenty's veto this weekend of a legislative bill (HF 885, SF 681) that would raise approximately $1 billion in revenue through income and alcohol taxes and a surtax on credit card companies, marked the official opening of Override Season this spring. The bill was actually the fourth veto...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 5, 2009
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is seemingly a fixture in the state and national media these days, and in particular on WWTC 1280 AM's Northern Alliance Radio Network. The Minnesota U.S. Representative appeared once again on Brian Ward and John Hinderaker's "The Headliners" program last Saturday morning to discuss excessive government spending,...
By Eric Ostermeier on April 26, 2009
Although House DFLers were able to push through a tax bill on Saturday to raise approximately $1.5 billion in revenue for the State of Minnesota, 20 percent of its caucus peeled off to join the Republicans in voting against the legislation. The DFL was able to pass the tax hike...
By Eric Ostermeier on March 30, 2009
With the release of the DFL's budget earlier this month, the war of words (and policies) in the budget battle between the DFL leadership and Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty has seemingly intensified. During her media availability last Friday, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher described her recent meeting with the...
By Eric Ostermeier on March 22, 2009
During the House DFL leadership's press conference last Thursday in which they unveiled the broad strokes of their balanced budget plan, Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Majority Leader Tony Sertich used biting language to characterize the budget plan of their political opponent, Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. In defending their own...
By Eric Ostermeier on March 20, 2009
On Thursday, Upper Midwestern U.S. House Democrats unanimously supported a bill that would impose an additional tax on bonuses received from certain Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) recipients. The measured passed 328 to 93 in the lower chamber. The bill (HR 1586) taxes at 90 percent bonuses given to employees...
